Monday, 23 July 2012

ULTRA - Depeche Mode

I had the pleasure of watching Jenny and the UK's TOP Ultra-runners at The Anglo-Celtic Plate 100km Race in Wales yesterday. I found Jenny's run truly inspiring and it got me thinking about my own entry into ULTRA-running...

This is for a future article so your feedback is most welcome...

Even if you’ve never run a
marathon, you might be surprised to hear that ULTRA-marathon running could be
for you. Personally, I would go further than that and suggest that ULTRAs are
for EVERYONE. Compared to the likes of Cross Channel Swimmers and Himalayan
Mountain Climbers, it’s a relatively short and cheap road to accomplishing the
fitness required and to achieving an Extreme Challenge.

Many people take up
ULTRA-running as a means to extend their running careers and achieve new running
goals by running FURTHER rather than FASTER once they have peaked at other
running distances. I arrived at my first ULTRA-marathon with a different
perspective as it was only my 7th running race (my current career total stands
at 728 marathons/ULTRA-marathons). In fact my marathon PB came six months after
I had discovered ULTRAs, and only a week after running a 40 mile trail ultra
across the muddy Yorkshire countryside.

You see for me it’s all about
the ‘Challenge of the Distance’ rather than performing in classic city marathons,
even though I have run most of the marathon majors many times over. When I took
up ULTRA-running it was a fairly underground sport with relatively small
numbers competing in mega-distance races. I loved the fact that it made me
stand out from the normal marathon crowd.

ULTRAs suited my personality I
found…

Running
your first ULTRA

For me it was a 34 mile ULTRArace
along the disused Grantham Canal Run. I wasn’t too sure what to expect on the
day and I ran at my marathon pace all the way which meant that I finished high
up in the results. I enjoyed running on the grass towpath, hurdling five bar gates
and negotiating canal bridges and road crossings along the route. I was tired
but elated to finish and found the process of travelling from A to B using just
my own two feet felt really satisfying. For me I had discovered exactly how I
could tick all of my own personal achievement boxes in one go and quickly
looked for my next ULTRA-marathon challenge.

If you are considering running
your first ULTRA, entering a race to train for is the best way to focus the
mind. 50km is a great starter distance and there are plenty to choose from. I
host one of the UK’s most popular of these - The London Ultra - which welcomes
all levels of ability from beginner to elite. There are 6 months until the 2013
event in February, giving ample time for ANY runner to train. It is the perfect
way to make your ULTRA-marathon debut and test your limits of endurance over a
well-marked and interesting ULTRA-marathon course on the City’s trails.

What
you will need

Lots of Courage, Determination
and Enthusiasm. When you are stood on the start line you will also need to know
that you are capable of covering the distance, something I refer to as ‘range’.
Running in HOPE rather than BELIEF is a common error amongst fledgling
ULTRA-runners. I believe that training for an ULTRA-marathon is like saving
money in a bank account that you will take out on race day when you perform. The
more miles you ‘bank’ in training, the richer your BELIEF will be on race day. It’s
actually a great strategy for your entire running career.

In my early days of running
marathons and ULTRAs I used the ‘VERY Long Slow Distance’ approach to running
coupled with some very fast shorter training runs. It helped me to reach a sustained
level of ULTRA-fitness but I trained myself very unscientifically and without
any research or guidance. It possibly hindered my progress in some ways and I
would have definitely benefited from being fast-tracked by a Coach or Training
Schedule/Resource.

Just like anything else in
life, if you want to be successful in your running career you need a PLAN - a
basic structure to your training is imperative. Nowadays, finding clear and
reliable information can be difficult - the Internet can be a very useful tool
but it can also be a dangerous ‘information’ source for the more novice runner.
There is a plethora of bad information online and knowing where to get accurate
information that is relevant to your level of ability is an art in and of
itself.

This is where my role as a
Running Performance Coach is now helping people make that leap of faith into
‘The World of ULTRAs’. I have run the miles and done the exams and am now
helping running clients of all levels of ability to enhance their fitness,
re-energise their running, set new PBs, break Guinness World Records and run
distances that they never would have imagined possible.

What’s
next?

Take the next step… it’s time
for you to pass 26.2 miles. ULTRAs are like running in 1080HD with Dolby
Surround Sound when all you have been used to is a Black and White TV. I have
run massive ULTRA-distances across countries, deserts and mountains. You could
too and when you have, you will know what I mean.